ˈwhereaˈbouts, adv., n.
(stress var.)
[f. prec. + advb. -s: cf. hereabouts, thereabouts.]
1. a. interrog. = prec. 1 a. Also fig.
| c 1450 Mirk's Festial 167 Sonne, whereaboutes art þow? 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus ii. v. N j b, Wheraboutes is our hostes house? 1621 I. C. in T. Bedford's Sin unto Death ¶vj, Except they know..whereabouts the daunger is. 1648 Duppa Soules Solil. 2 Many..go away informed..where abouts the Spleen lies, or where the Liver. 1791 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 357, I ask him whereabouts he is with the claims of the German Princes. 1837 Dickens Pickw. liii, Whereabouts were your apartments, Mr. Pickwick? 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 97 The natives pointed out to me whereabouts they passed in the valley below. |
† b. rel. About the amount at which. (Cf. thereabouts 2 b.) Obs. rare.
| 1766 J. Ingersoll Lett. rel. Stamp-Act 6 note, The Parliament have..settled the above Duties just whereabouts they are stated in the above Letter. |
† 2. interrog. and rel. = prec. 2 a, b. Obs.
| 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus i. i. D j, What studyeth he .i. wheraboutes gothe he? 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 224 Neyther had I any thing at all, where abouts to occupie my penne. 1630 Bedell in Ussher's Life, etc. (1686) 452 Only he labours about Kildromfarten: Whereabouts I purposed to have spoken with your Grace. |
3. as n. (ˈhwɛərəbaʊts). [from 1.] = prec. 4. Also fig.
| 1795 T. Twining Let. to Parr 15 Feb. in P.'s Wks. (1828) VIII. 273 By way of giving you the whereabouts of my present political opinions. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Scot.-Yard, Not all his knowledge of the history of the past..may help him to the whereabouts..of Scotland-yard. 1878 Bayne Purit. Rev. i. 12 Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim's Progress..without giving a hint of his ecclesiastical where⁓abouts. 1903 Times 3 May 3/6 The prisoner..succeeded in concealing his whereabouts. |